AMD has released a brand new driver for its graphics cards. According to the release notes, the AMD Radeon Adrenalin Edition 18.5.1 is optimized for Ancestors Legacy and adds support for Windows 10 April Update, Microsoft PlayReady 3.0 and AMD Ryzen Desktop Processors with Radeon Vega Graphics. Going into more details, the AMD Radeon Adrenalin Edition 18.5.1 driver increases performance by up to 6% on the Radeon RX Vega 56 and by up to 13% on the Radeon RX 580 in Ancestors Legacy. Moreover, it adds support for Microsoft PlayReady 3.0 on Radeon RX 400 Series and Radeon RX 500 Series desktop graphics products.

NVIDIA today released GeForce 397.93 WHQL "Game Ready" drivers. The drivers come with optimization for "The Crew" closed beta and "State of Decay 2." SLI profiles are either added or updated for "DRG Initiative," and "Star Wars: Battlefront II." The drivers also introduce CUDA 9.2 support. In addition, the drivers also address a number of bugs. You now no longer need to close Steam to enable/disable SLI. A "Wolfenstein II: TNC" bug that causes the game to freeze in the Roosevelt area, is fixed. A critical issue is fixed on machines with both "Pascal" and "Kepler" GPUs installed, in which the driver fails to load. Green flickering noticed in "Far Cry 5" when using HDR on non-native screen-resolution, is fixed.

HTC today announced the U12+, its flagship handset for the year. The phone carries over the "liquid design" from last year's U11, but updates the color selection for the metal-and-glass chassis. The device is rated IP68 and can handle short dunks in water. HTC created new digital controls along the side edges to help seal up the chassis. The U12+ also improves the Edge Sense pressure-sensitive sides with new controls and actions. The U12+ sees HTC catching up to its competitors with a 2:1 aspect screen. The display measures 6 inches and offers quad HD+ resolution (2,880 by 1,440 pixels). The Super LCD 6 panel is protected by Gorilla Glass and supports HDR 10 video playback. Like most of today's flagship devices, the U12+ is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor. The phone includes 6 GB of RAM and comes with either 64 GB or 128 GB of storage. It supports microSD memory cards up to 2 TB. HTC made big changes to the camera. The U12+ features dual cameras on the rear and the front. On back, the main camera has a 12-megapixel, wide-angle sensor at f/1.75 and a secondary 16-megapixel telephoto sensor at f/2.6. HTC says the camera includes UltraSpeed Autofocus 2, which is a hybrid of phase detection and laser autofocus. The phone supports optical zoom up to 2x and digital zoom up to 10x. Other camera features include HDR, bokeh portraits, face detection, and pro mode with RAW capture. The front has two identical 8-megapixel cameras at f/2.0 with support for bokeh portraits, HDR, face unlock, live makeup, AR stickers, and panorama selfies. The video camera includes a feature called Sonic Zoom, which will tweak the microphones to focus more narrowly when users zoom in on a subject. It can capture 4K video and includes OIS, 360-degree 3D audio capture, slow-motion, and time-lapse. Like the U11, the U12+ includes both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, which can be called up via the Edge Sense gestures. HTC tweaked its BoomSound speaker system to deliver 30% more sound and a better balance between the top and bottom speakers. The phone ships with HTC's USonic headphones with active noise cancellation. Other specs include NFC, Bluetooth 5, USB-C, 3,500mAh battery with rapid charging, and dual-band WiFi. As for network support, the U12+ is being sold as a single global unit with wide support for LTE networks. It includes Cat 18 LTE with support for U.S. bands such as 29 for AT&T and 66 for T-Mobile. HTC says the phone is fully certified to run on Verizon's network. The U12+ will go on sale over the course of the next few weeks. Pricing will be in line with other flagship devices, says HTC.

Epic is giving away the Gold Edition of Unreal. This version features 47 single player missions, 20 multiplayer levels with 5 different game types,an arsenal of over 13 deadly weapons, and includes all of the latest Unreal enhancements and technical improvements.

Those interested can get their free copy by visiting GOG or Steam. Do note that this is a limited free offer, and will end in 47 hours.

The head of IBM Research thinks that security-minded individuals should start looking into alternate forms of encryption and move their data today, as quantum computing is on the horizon. Some believe that quantum computers, capable of instantly breaking today's strongest security, could debut in as little as five years. Quantum computers can solve some types of problems near-instantaneously compared with billions of years of processing using conventional computers. Moler said people might feel safe because they have done everything they are supposed to do to secure their existing data -- but quantum computing will break it. "I do think that's scary," she said.

Cinematographer Phil Holland not all that long ago took delivery of the first Shootover K1 Hammerhead 6-axis gyro stabilized gimbal which allows for multiple cameras to be lined up and used in a panoramic array. He promptly put the rig to good use.
In its maiden voyage over New York City, the aerial camera array carried a trio of Red Weapon 8K VistaVision Monstro cameras on their side with Tokina 35mm T1.5 prime lenses and used them to shoot stunning footage of one of America's most iconic cities.
The resulting 12K by 8K footage is 48.5 times the resolution of HD 1080p and full of captured detail. Once processed, it creates stunning 100-megapixel images with a sensor size of approximately 645 Medium Format Film. The video embedded above is an 8K export of the footage and is best viewed in fullscreen on a 4K or 8K display.

Qualcomm this week laid out its plan to adopt the latest wifi security protocol in future products. The company said it will apply the Wifi Alliance's Wifi Protected Access (WPA3) across its portfolio of mobile and networking products starting this summer. The core feature of WPA3 is stronger protection when users choose weak passwords. WPA3 also simplifies the process of securing access points that don't have a display or interface. The standard provides individualized data encryption to protect data as it moves from computers, tablets, and phones to access points. Further, it includes a 192-bit security suite to help businesses and governments adopt the highest levels of protection. Qualcomm says it has already added WPA3 to its WCN3998 wifi radio and IPQ807x AP platform. The company says phons based on the Snapdragon 845 mobile application processor will be the first to support WPA3. The chip and phones that rely on it will gain WPA3 this summer, with Qualcomm's portfolio of networking devices to follow soon thereafter.

As promised, Google has added voice control support to its own video service, Google Play Movies & TV, to Google Home. People who own Google Home products can now speak voice commands to access movies and television shows purchased or rented through the Google Play Store and have that content play on Chromecast-connected television sets. Google says people won't have to change any settings or reconfigure their device to access this feature, as it has been added automatically on the backend. Google Home has for some time allowed people to use voice commands to access Netflix and other third-party streaming video content. The tool lets people start movies and shows, fast-forward, rewind, pause, and more.